As I write this, I find myself in one of the computer labs here at TUJ, musing to myself at how forgetful people are. I look around the room and see eight forgotten and abandoned umbrellas (it's been raining a lot lately) laying on the floor next to various seats. If I used and needed an umbrella, this would be a perfect place to get a good price..

When I first found myself here in Japan about two months ago, I had a difficult time getting used to the Japanese driving on the left side of the road (like in England.) It was much the same as how I felt when I visited London in summer of 2007; When crossing streets, looking in the wrong direction, feeling a bit frazzled because of it, the direction one wants to go on a subway or train line being on the Left, and never being quite 100% sure where to check for oncoming vehicles. 

Today I noticed that I've successfully switched to the local orientation. In fact, I'm finding it difficult to imagine what it was like when things were on the Right as opposed to the Left. It's a rather bizarre feeling. As I make my way from the train station to school or the Ontakesan Dorm, I see cars driving on the Left and think, "What was it like when cars where on the Right?" I have a hard time remembering, or spatially recreating the experience mentally. Since one generally also walks on the Left, and habitually walks on the side-walk in the direction traffic nearest to the curb is traveling, remembering what it was like on the Right side is easily forgotten—as if it were a different world or dimension! Now I see life from the Left and not the Right! Bizarre. I wonder, before cars existed, which side of the path did wagons and carts travel?